


I can see the summer is ending

by Runespoor



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: DCU Reboot, F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-18
Updated: 2011-08-18
Packaged: 2017-10-22 19:32:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/241739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runespoor/pseuds/Runespoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can feel the change coming, if you know what to look for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I can see the summer is ending

**Author's Note:**

> My grip on Kiran is still pretty shaky, so you're all welcome to canon-thump me on her tone and reactions.

It's very late over San Francisco when Kiran hears some noise down the hall. Earlier she heard Red Robin – Tim – go back to his room, his feet almost shuffling like he was so tired he couldn't keep up the effort of moving silently. It's her first week-end at Titans Tower, so she assumes it's normal she has trouble sleeping. It turns out her powers don't help that much with jet lag, and anyway she's too excited. Like there are needles prickling her skin from the inside, but pleasantly.

Well, whatever it is is bound to be better than turn over in her bed and fail to sleep fitfully. Kiran tries to be quiet as she leaves her room, unsure at how sensitive to noise the others would be. She bets Tim and Cassie are light sleepers, and Kon and Gar have their powers. Good hearing must kind of suck sometimes.

She finds Rose in the Titans' kitchen, crouching in the cold light of the open fridge. The rest of the kitchen is bathed in the semi-darkness of New York nights, but the coffeemaker is on.

Kiran switches the light on and Rose looks over her shoulder.

“Hi,” Kiran offers. Maybe coming down wasn't such a hot idea. Rose is a little prickly, and Kiran doesn't want to be a bother. “I'm not intruding?”

After a pause, Rose shrugs. “Nah. I was just making coffee. And looking for something to eat,” she adds, retrieving a plate of rosy ham and a bottle of milk. Then she stands up to put the plate and the milk on the table, next to the bread and jam. She's wearing her costume, Kiran realizes. Weird, given the hour.

“You have somewhere to be?” she asks, tentative. Don't the Titans exist so they can do things as a team? But it does sound like Rose, or what Kiran saw of her, to do something on her own before anyone else is awake. Rose is a team player, but she likes to be independent too. She's not the only one, Tim does the same thing. At first it startled Kiran that no-one remarked on it, but now she understands that it's because they're friends and they're used to each other's quirks. She can respect wanting to do some things on your own, too. As long as it's not stupid.

“No,” Rose says bluntly.

Kiran crosses her arms and very pointedly eyes the vapor rising from the coffee machine, the food, and the sword gleaming next to the ham. Rose bristles, but she doesn't answer, which, well, fair enough.

“Can I join you?” she asks. “I can't sleep. You don't need to tell me anything if you don't want to.”

She waits for Rose to gesture that she can. As she makes to take out a mug and a plate of her own (she thinks there are some leftover _idlis_ from yesterday's supper), Rose surprises her; she sighs and takes out the cutlery herself. “Just sit down,” Rose says. “I'm not gonna bite you.”

“I didn't think you would,” Kiran replies. She sits anyway. “I was wondering where the dishes and stuff are. New girl, remember?”

Rose sends her a glance that Kiran can't interpret, but she relaxes. “Yeah, I hear you.”

There's a silence while Rose pours them coffee and pushes one of the fuming mugs toward Kiran. She's biting her lip.

“Thanks. You've been on the team for a while,” Kiran says, because she feels like she needs to say something.

Rose doesn't snort, but a strange expression passes across her face, something like a grin that doesn't touch her lips or her eyes and has nothing to do with happiness. Then she shakes herself, rolls her shoulders. “Yeah, well.” She reaches for her mug and brings it to her lips like what she wants to do is chug it down, but common sense makes her blow on it and take a cautious sip. It looks much daintier than her usual mannerisms. “Not gonna be on it any more, so. Not gonna look really that long.”

“What? Why? ...Is it because of Cassie?” That comes out more sympathetic than she thinks Rose is willing to deal with. Kiran means it; it's not pity, but she understands that the situation has got to be difficult for everyone. Cassie isn't making it easy for Rose, and there's Kon.

Rose arches her eyebrow. “What does the Wonder chick have to do with anything?”

“Maybe it's not my place, but it's obvious that you two--” Kiran debates over how to phrase it, but if she spends too long on the right words she'll only embarrass herself – Rose's steely gaze can have that effect – or that if she says what she really thinks, which is, _still have feelings for one another_ , Rose will attempt to run her through with her sword, “--that it's awkward since you broke up.”

The mug freezes half-way to Rose's mouth. “...We're not _dating_.”

“I know, I know,” Kiran hurries to explain. Awkward. “But you're still, both of you, it's very, ah, very intense. And there's also Kon – that doesn't help – so I didn't mean it was just you, Cassie still...”

“ _Superboy_?”

“Well, I thought the two of you broke up because he came back and Cassie used to date him.” Actually, Kiran's fuzzy on the time line. If there was stuff happening on the side, either Cassie and Kon before, or accidental Cassie and Rose even now, it wouldn't surprise her, but she tactfully keeps that for herself.

Rose is staring at her like Kiran had just grown a second head. And even then, she's a Titan, they're used to dealing with weird stuff.

“Cassie and I never dated,” Rose says, stoic. “And I'm not jealous of Superboy. I spend most of my time on the team flirting or fighting, Kiran. There's nothing between Cassie and I. Never has been.”

With every sentence, Kiran feels her cheeks grow hotter, until they're boiling, and it's not the pleasant sensation of her solar powers. She grips her mug and wishes she could shrink into a mouse, cursing herself.

“I'm sorry,” she says in the silence. “I misread the situation, I'm sorry.”

“It's okay.” Rose takes another sip. “I think we might have. If we'd had more time. I would've made a move.” She considers. “Or I guess she would have.” She closes her eyes to drain her coffee, tipping her head back.

“Oh.” Kiran's at a loss for words. It doesn't sound like Rose is after a shoulder to cry on.

“But I guess we'll never know, or well, not before a while,” Rose continues as she pours herself another mug of coffee and starts digging into the food assembled on the table.

There, that's what Kiran doesn't get. “Why are you leaving?”

Rose is inflicting vicious wounds upon the ham. “I have to find my mother. I thought I could get the team to help me, but with Tim returning, and M'gann, and the Crisis ... I don't feel like bringing them into my personal business. Don't get me wrong, I actually like being a Titan, but I think it's time for me to leave.”

“I'm sorry to hear that,” Kiran says sincerely. “I know we haven't known each other long, but what it's worth, I liked having you there. Don't you want to wait until the morning so you can tell the others?”

“I don't do well with good-byes.” Pensive, she munches on her mouthful. Kiran doesn't know how she can stand to each so much, it always takes _her_ a while in the morning before she can get solid food down. Then again, if Rose's intent on traveling, it's probably wise that she gets her strength up. “I think you should leave the team.”

“Huh?”

“Leave the team; go back to your parents. Wait until it's broken over.”

“What are you talking about? Why would I want to quit being a Titan, I only just got there!”

Rose doesn't look up. “Do you know what Crises are?”

“It's an event, generally manifested through massive unrest between supervillains and superheroes, that's so big it changed the world, right?” She goes on, encouraged by Rose nodding along. “I read it seems to focus on people carrying the meta-gene.”

“Yeah, that's it. I'm impressed by the definition, that almost made sense.”

“I did some reading,” Kiran says, without mentioning that she did it before the Titans, before she got a clear sense of her powers.

“You should talk to Bart, he'll love you. More than he already does,” Rose suggests. She doesn't wait to see if Kiran's embarrassed before going on. “One of the few useful things my dad told me that's not related to the best way to kill a man was that if you're smart and you know to pay attention, you can guess when there's a Crisis coming. When you're a smart supervillain, that lets you know when to up the ante and get maximum reaction, and when you fight supervillains, that means you're not taken too off-guard when shit hits the fan.”

“I'm following, but I don't see what this has to do with me quitting the Titans.”

“You said it yourself: massive change focusing on people with the meta-genes. You're more likely to get screwed by the Crisis than normal people. And if you're on the line of fire, you can bet you'll be under that influence. And it's nowhere as fun as being drunk.”

“How do you know?”

“Last Crisis that affected me, I put my own eye out.”

Kiran can't keep her own eyes from widening. Rose's tone is so matter-of-fact, like it doesn't bother her so much, maybe like it happened to someone else.

Rose leans against the counter and tells her story. “I was with my Dad. He was very involved with the Society of Supervillains at the time. He said he knew big things were coming. I think that the first sign he got was my gouging my eye out. In all fairness, he'd drugged me out of my mind on super serum; I can't swear that I did that because of the atmosphere of the Crisis, but personally I think there's a good chance. A Crisis gets people acting out. They do things that they'd never do normally. I took on Superman with Kryptonite in my skull because my Dad thought it'd be a good exercise.”

“And you think that could happen to me?... Why aren't you telling the others the same thing?”

“Got no way to tell; but there's more chances that the Crisis will do something nasty to you if you hang out with heroes and villains, that's for sure. People die, in a Crisis. I know the Titans haven't had the best track record at teammate survival recently, but trust me, a Crisis makes everything worse.” She pauses to take her breath. “The others are used to that.”

That's a bit too easy. “One of the last Crises, Superboy was sent into the future and Bart became an adult,” Kiran feels obligated to remind her.

“Yeah, but they came back, didn't they? The Crisis only _does things_ to them, it doesn't _kill_ them. You and I are at a much higher risk of dying gratuitously than anyone else in this Tower. And would you want to be sent hundred of centuries into the future, with no way of knowing that you'll come back and with your entire family convinced you're dead? I guarantee you that if we die, we're not special enough to come back.”

“You think we should hide until it's over.”

Rose startles like Kiran's threatened her with a spout of fire, and glares. “Not hide. We get out of the way of the Crisis and go at our business, and when it's blown over we can come back. I'm not advocating hiding in a bunker here. I just think, the Titans are pretty much one of the worst places on Earth for us to be right now. Next stage is joining up Suicide Squad or the Global Guardians.”

Kiran frowns. “The Global who?”

“Exactly,” Rose mutters darkly.

Kiran watches as Rose drains her third cup of coffee, and puts the dirty plates in the sink. “We'll miss you,” she says, because while there may be tension between Rose and the others, she thinks they've become used to Rose being there and working with them. She's part of the team.

“Think about what I said,” Rose says, grabbing her backpack and strapping her sword to her side.

“I will,” Kiran says. “Good luck finding your mom.”

Rose doesn't smile, but she gives Kiran a little wave good-bye. Kiran watches out of the window Rose walking away from the Tower, and she stays watching long after Rose has disappeared, until the pale light of the morning spreads over New York.


End file.
